Neil Cowley Trio

Neil Cowley Trio

Neil Cowley Trio is a UK jazz group active from 2006 to 2018. The group consists of Neil Cowley on piano, Richard Sadler on double bass, Rex Horan and Evan Jenkins on drums.

Background

The trio is led by London-born pianist and composer Neil Cowley, who begins performing as a child prodigy at the age of 10, when he plays a Shostakovich piano concerto at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall to an audience of 1,200. By 17, after responding to an advertisement in Melody Maker, he enters pop music, and by 21 he performs to more than 5,000 people at the Royal Albert Hall.

Cowley leaves the Royal Academy at an early age and works with soul and funk acts including The Brand New Heavies and Zero 7. In 2002, he forms Fragile State, a production duo that makes two critically acclaimed albums in the jazzy chill-out area before the record company collapses. After that, he turns back to the piano and begins writing and recording in a more direct, technology-free way.

Style and recording

Neil Cowley Trio’s music is described in terms such as “beautiful and delicate” and “sweeping and epic”. Cowley names Shostakovich, Ahmad Jamal, Frank Zappa, Erroll Garner and Taraf de Haidouks among the figures that shape the material. He says his chords come before his melody, with each chord needing its own character and story.

The trio rehearses the material for one week before recording Displaced in a single take over two days at Real World Studios. The album presents the group as a modern jazz trio with energetic interplay, emotional intensity and a focus on melody.